Gates Blasts NATO Allies Over Afghan Shortfalls

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Gates Blasts NATO Allies Over Afghan Shortfalls

Cross-border attacks from Pakistan, a rising drug trade, and a corrupt police force threaten the "real but fragile" progress in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is scheduled to say, in testimony today before the House Armed Services Committee. But that's not all at stake in the six-year Afghan war. The fate of the NATO alliance also hangs in the balance, Gates contends.

I know, as do you, the members of this committee, that if the world’s greatest democracies cannot summon the will to accomplish a mission that all agree is morally just and essential for our collective security, then the citizens of these democracies will begin to question the mission’s worth– and perhaps even the worth of the Alliance itself. We must not allow this to happen.

In recent months, NATO allies have been bickering over their roles in Afghan campaign. Germany has been accused of sheltering its troops in a relatively safe corner of the country. A French general recently said the 41,000 coalition troops there are "largely insufficient to ensure security." But Paris has been reluctant to send more of its soldiers to the region. (Check the links below to read David Axe's excellent Afghanistan dispatches from over the summer.)

Despite the shortfall, coalition forces "took the initiative away from the Taliban" in early 2007, Gates – just back from Afghanistan – contends. "There is reason for optimism tempered by caution" for the success of the Afghan campaign. But he acknowledges that "significant problems in the mission do persist." The police force "continues to struggle due to corruption and illiteracy." A "cross-border insurgency," fueled by "Al Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan," is contributing to the "continuing violence." And "the drug trade inAfghanistan threatens the foundations of this young government."

Poppy cultivation has been rising overall, despite an internationally backed counter-narcotics effort. Thegrowing of poppies is centered in the south, where the Taliban and Al Qaeda are most active and thepopulation is most vulnerable to their intimidation and influence.

There is a nexus between the drug-traffickers and the Taliban. The insurgents rely on theAfghan drug trade for a part of their operating funds, and some laborers double as insurgents andfarm workers harvesting poppy.

But perhaps the most important impedement to progress, Gates says, "is the willingness of theNATO allies to meet their commitments" in Afghanistan. "NATO still has shortfalls in meeting minimum requirements in troops, equipment, and other resources."

*The Afghanistan mission has exposed constraints associated with interoperability, organization, critical equipment shortfalls, and national caveats. I believe the problem arises in large part due to the way various allies view the very nature of theAlliance in the 21st century – about facing threats that are quite different from those of the Cold War. NATO must adjust to the challenges associated with conducting operations in distant locations.And NATO needs to ensure that it has the resources and the organizational structure to counter terrorist networks and triumph over insurgencies that threaten to cause instability and failed states....

I have been urging our allies to commit more troops and resources to the fight and to remove restrictions on the troops they already deploy. I know that several members of Congress have been doing the same thing. We in the administration will continue to work with NATOto fix these shortfalls. I would also like to stress the importance ofAmerican unity on this matter. If other governments are pressured by this body and the Senate, it may help push them to do the difficult work of persuading their own citizens that it is time to step up to this challenge. *